Zagreb Summit in the Shadow of Coalition Quarrels

Government negotiator with the European Union on the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association Vasil Tupurkovski spoiled the good mood of prime minister Ljubco Georgievski occasioned by initialing of the document at the summit conference in Zagreb which was proclaimed to be historical even before it was took place.

AIM Skopje, November 28, 2000

"I can really tell you that this could have waited for two days!" declared in his Sunday interview for Macedonian Television prime minister Ljubco Georgievski aiming at the fact that Democratic Alternative had stepped out of the government coalition. The cause of the interview was the Zagreb summit conference and initialing of the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association between Macedonia and the European Union, but also the relations between recent coalition partners in the government. Georgievski's statement is in fact confirmation that the Zagreb summit conference which was proclaimed to be historical by government media even before it had taken place, passed in the shadow of quarrels inside the government coalition. Just a day before the Zagreb summit conference significant for Macedonia because of initialing of the agreement with the European Union, the main Macedonian government negotiator and leader of Democratic Alternative Vasil Tupurkovski decided instead to go to Zagreb - to step out of the government. He then declared that the job was done and that technical details and exchange of instruments on the agreement could be taken care of by somebody else alluding to the prime minister. Georgievski, caught unprepared by the decision of Democratic Alternative in Zagreb declared that "a day like this one cannot be spoiled for him by anyone" which is a paraphrase of Tupurkovski's declaration given on the occasion of relieving of duty of government advisor Ante Markovic on the very same day when political negotiations on the agreement with the European Union were completed in Skopje.

From that point things proceeded by logic of a big attraction. The summit conference in Zagreb, unquestioned success and culmination of two-year efforts of Macedonia which remained outside Agenda 2000 to slightly open the door for a possible reception in the Union, remained in the shadow of speculations and combinations concerning the fall of the government of Ljubco Georgievski, the establishment of a new parliamentary majority and the possibility of formation of a new government with other parties as coalition partners, party calculations, buying and selling in this connection...

Until the last day, for as long as political negotiations and talks of experts on the agreement lasted, that is, to the day on the eve of the summit conference in Zagreb, an abundance of information was published in Macedonian public about it, what was unfavourable in the agreement with the EU, what Macedonia was gaining or losing and similar, with negative assessments prevailing along with doubts that the agreement would be initialed in Zagreb. The "evolution clause" and provisions on re-admission were especially underlined. Such views were to a certain extent shared by president of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski who believed that it was not necessary to hurry with initialing the agreement if it was possible to get the "evolution clause" which would be more convenient for Macedonia. In the assembly of Macedonia, the proposal to pass a Declaration as the sign of support to the agreement with the EU initiated by parliamentary groups of VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic Party of the Albanians, was first postponed until the end of political negotiations with the EU, then coordinated by the consensus of all the parties represented in the parliament and finally it was adopted after information given to the parliamentarians from the platform of the assembly by Macedonian government negotiator Vasil Tupurkovski and after the insight into the text of the agreement which was distributed in the assembly, because they refused to support the document without having been informed about its content. It was of no use that the European Union explained that the “evolution clause” was not a matter for negotiations or that the details of the agreement could be discussed and denied by members of parliament, and even rejected if they saw fit in the procedure of ratification which would take place in Macedonian parliament after its signing.

The Forum biweekly, for instance, in its latest issue chose as its cover topic the agreement with the European Union. The title is highly indicative in itself: “With No Unnecessary Euphoria, Please!” And its thesis is also quite resolute: “Macedonia needs a new, more resolute initiative in relations with the European Union. This initiative must be well founded and elaborated on the local political scene, but also considered within the context of the region and possibly supported by it. Only that can lead us to a functional and political integration with Europe”. In a way the leitmotif of the article is questioning the historical significance of the Zagreb summit conference. The prime minister, however, declared just the opposite in Zagreb, after having initialed the agreement: “This is not a historical act only for our country which has set this association as a priority of its foreign policy for ten years already. I believe that this is a historical act for other countries of South-Eastern Europe, too, which are also getting ready for the quickest possible association. But this is a historical act even for the European Union itself which is, like never before in its history opening to the countries of the Balkan”.

In all that confusion, the background of this agreement was forgotten. Coming to power of the coalition for changes after parliamentary elections in November 1998 coincided with the situation in which Macedonia established relations with the European Union. At the time Macedonia was not mentioned in Agenda 2000 and practically the door towards Europe was closed. The first foreign political move of the new government was a visit to Brussels in the effort to get the answer to the question when Macedonia could hope to set out on the road to Europe. What prime minister Ljubco Georgievski and foreign minister Aleksandar Dimitrov heard in Brussels was not at all encouraging. Then the Kosovo crisis came in which Macedonia earned a point or two and based on it was given the promise that negotiations on the Agreement on Stabilisation and Association would start. It is a fact that the negotiations started last spring and that they have been successful. One of the results of the Agreement is removal of European barriers for Macedonian products except for fish, beef and wine as of December 1. But this is not even mentioned by anybody but the government. Even if he survives this crisis of the coalition and the government, Georgievski has not had much luck when negotiations with the international financial institutions are concerned either. The final negotiations on the agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are planned to take place in the middle of December. Prime minister Georgievski complained that media had not been too keen on informing on these favourable news, but he also resolutely declared that only the government he is at the head of guarantees signing of the agreement with the IMF and the World Bank. On the contrary, according to Georgievski, the agreements will not be signed and the new government will be at a standstill for a year or two until it ends up in the position his cabinet is in now.

AIM Skoplje

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